Written evidence submitted by The Archives
& Records Association (arts 190)
1. The Archives & Records Association
is the professional and representation body for the archive and
record keeping sector. It was formed in June 2010 after the merger
of the Society of Archivists, the National Council on Archives
and the Association of Chief Officers in Local Government. The
Archives & Records Association is the professional body for
archivists, maintains professional standards and accredits academic
courses; advocates for the sector and administers the All-Party
Parliamentary Group on Archives; and provides a forum for users
and special interest groups to coalesce around a single sector
body, doing away with the plethora of smaller representation groups
that used to exist.
2. SUMMARY
— The effect of the recently announced
cuts and abolition of arms length organisations not easily quantifiable
and harder information will become more apparent after the CSR
and once local authorities start to set and publish their budgets
in the first quarter of 2011.
— The archive sector will suffer severely
if cuts of up to 40% are uniformly applied due to the structure
of the sector, the reliance on capital and resource funding to
care for our collections and the small number of staff working
across local authority archive services.
— The archive sector has very high levels
of user satisfaction and is rated very highly by users in terms
of the impact it has on wider agendas including citizenship, education
and lifelong learning and stronger communities.
— The Archives & Records Association
was formed in June 2010 and led the way in the sector in terms
of creating a new streamlined structure for the archives sector
by merging three different bodies into one. There is scope for
further coordination between the groups representing the museums,
libraries and archives sector without the need to create more
bureaucracy or bury the sector within larger existing organisations.
— Funding structures and criteria should
be changed to allow for fairer access to public money for the
archive sector and to give a greater priority for the conservation
of and access to our nation's archival heritage
What impact recent, and future, spending cuts
from central and local Government will have on the arts and heritage
at a national and local level
3. The recent announcements and the uncertainty
of what will be contained in the CSR in the autumn makes it very
difficult to give any accurate prediction about the impact of
decisions which into effect on 1 April 2011, let alone on any
longer time scale. As such all that can be done at this stage
is to provide an idea of the levels of resource reduction that
services are currently being asked to prepare for.
4. Particular to archive services (although
not exclusively) is the increasing number of joint services, funded
by a number of smaller authorities (usually unitary councils,
sometimes with a two-tier county as a partner). These joint arrangements
are particularly vulnerable at time of financial pressure, as
the smaller councils will find it more difficult to make savings
than larger ones and thus look to cultural and heritage budgets
before their bigger neighbours. If joint arrangements come under
increasing pressure and in many cases come to an end, this would
be at odds with the government's policy for archives, as set out
in Archives for the 21st Century strategy, published in November
2009. The over-arching theme of the policy is to develop "bigger
and better" archive services in partnership between local
authorities and across domains with higher education institutions,
to increase efficiencies and improve sustainability. It would
be unfortunate if the current financial situation made it more
difficult to reach this goal at the very time when greater efficiencies
would be to the benefit of all local authorities and partner bodies.
5. Furthermore, most archive joint arrangements
(usually formally sealed legal agreements) require the partner
authorities to contribute relative to the size of their populations.
Therefore, if one or more authorities seek to reduce their contribution,
it is then open to all the others to reduce their contribution
by a similar amount. Currently this "double whammy"
is causing concern to many heads of archive services. One county
archivist has noted that the unitary councils seem to have been
affected more quickly than counties by spending reductions and
so he is potentially facing much more severe reductions than library
or museums services in his own authority, which do not operate
on a joint basis.
6. The most severe set of potential reductions
identified so far for an individual archive service over the next
few years is a 40% reduction in a traditional two tier county
council. To achieve this cut, staffing levels would have to be
reduced by almost 50%, with the closure of one of the two service
points and a four day opening at the other. Among posts to go
would be the head of service. The reductions are proposed to come
in at a single stroke next year, rather than phased and equally
draconian reductions have been mooted for both library and museum
services in the same authority. Few other archive services have
been asked to plan for such sweeping reductions, with reductions
of about 10% seemingly the norm.
7. The archive sector employs relatively
few people for a direct public-facing service. The local authority
archive sector employs 1,600 staff and benefits from a further
3,000 volunteers, who between them contribute some 230,000 hours
every year (source: CIPFA statistics for UK local authority archive
services).
8. A further effect of reductions in resources
will be that even fewer archive services will be in a position
to take advantage of external funding sources, such as HLF, as
it will be ever more difficult to secure matched funding. Main
stream capital funding is being squeezed, and at least one county
service has lost an already agreed extension which would have
provided additional storage for 20 years and improved document
preservation facilities. Some high profile projects appear to
be continuing, but overall it appears that in many areas plans
to expand or improve overstretched or inadequate storage capacity,
or developing facilities to deal with digital records, will have
to be shelved for several years, or perhaps indefinitely.
9. Even where large scale cuts are not expected
to decimate a service, the effect of any budget reductions will
have an immediate effect on the ability of archive services to
offer anything other than the core activities of storage and preservation.
The scale of that task alone is daunting, with over 780,000 linear
metres of archives to care for just within the UK local authority
services. The other activities, often most appreciated by service
users and indeed the local authorities themselves, such as education,
outreach, one-to-one assistance for local and family history researchers
and wider community engagement initiatives will very likely cease
to continue.
10. The archive and record keeping community
takes its responsibility in terms of and public service quality
and customer satisfaction very seriously indeed. The annual Survey
of Visitors to UK archives is commissioned by the Archives &
Records Association and confirms the importance that users place
in wider work of archives:
When asked "How far do you agree archives
contribute to society" by:
Providing opportunities for learning; 96% ticked
"strongly agree" or "agree";
Preserving our culture and heritage: 99% "strongly
agree" or "agree";
Strengthening family and community identity:
86% "strongly agree" or "agree";
Supporting administrative and business activity:
77% "strongly agree" or "agree";
Supporting the rights of citizens: 69% "strongly
agree" or "agree".
Source: Survey of Visitors to UK Archives
2009.
The impact of recent changes to DCMS arm's-length
bodies—in particular the abolition of the UK Film Council
and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
11. Much like the question relating to the impact
of spending reductions, there will be a time-lag before we are
able to properly understand the effect of the abolition of the
MLA on the archive sector. It is true that many services have
benefited from the relatively small amounts of funding secured
through the MLA, so it has been a good return on small funds.
There is also the question about how Archives for the 21st Century
will be implemented, with MLA ceasing to exist. Will it be left
to The National Archives alone to work across government to implement
a policy which touches on the responsibilities of not just DCMS,
but the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Local Government
and Communities, not to mention the Welsh Assembly Government?
12. Historically, the archive sector was
made part of the old Resource organisation, the predecessor agency
of the MLA. It was felt that with the creation of MLA that at
last there was a "headline" mention of archives as a
sector in the title of the new body, distinct from museums and
libraries. MLA working at its best enables the archive sector
to work both nationally and regionally by providing networking,
the sharing and dissemination of best practice and integrates
archives into a wider cultural and heritage strategy. With the
abolition of the MLA, it is vitally important that new ways of
providing this service is found.
13. The Archives & Records Association
has had concerns relating to the lack of specialised knowledge
and the absence of qualified archivists working for MLA, especially
following the changes made to MLA's structure in 2008. The Archives
& Record Association has been working closely with the MLA
and has a service level agreement in operation with the MLA and
The National Archives, providing support for the archive sector
in terms of advocacy, driving improvement in public sector service
delivery and developing special projects such as improving the
way the sector recruits, retains and develops volunteers.
14. The Archives & Records Association
believes that a real opportunity exists to reassess the nature
of the funding structures within the wider cultural and heritage
sector. It would be a detrimental step to create larger, single
NGOs or to give existing large bodies within the sector responsibility
for policy and strategic support for too vast a collection of
activities.
What arts organisations can do to work more closely
together in order to reduce duplication of effort and to make
economies of scale
15. The Archives & Records Association
has led the way in the museums, libraries and archives sector
recently. The organisation has been created in order to streamline
the professional, representation and coordination functions of
the archives sector. This has been necessary to develop the capacity
of the sector to communicate more effectively with partners and
decision-makers at all levels of government.
16. Whilst efforts should be made to reduce
duplication and take advantage of the benefits of economies of
scale, the temptation to create monolithic organisations to artificially
represent and advance the development of sectors as diverse as
the built heritage, visual arts, creative industries, archives,
records, libraries and museums, should be resisted. Instead, the
culture of the wider cultural and heritage sector must respond
to the challenge of both providing specialised knowledge and support
for each cultural domain, but also to work more effectively together.
One model that government should examine might involve separate,
streamlined representation and development bodies, but also create
new ways to ensure real cooperation and coordination. For example,
in the museums, libraries and archives sectors, the existing bodies
(the Archives & Records Association, the Museums Association
and the Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals)
could continue to do the work they do to improve public services,
develop heritage and cultural policy and develop professional
skills and, in addition, create a tripartite coordination group
to ensure that duplication is minimised and the opportunities
for collaboration are identified and exploited. Such a coordination
group could be responsible for reporting back to DCMS and other
sector funding groups, coordinate higher-level funding applications
to bodies such as HLF and provide decision-makers with authoritative
advice.
What level of public subsidy for the arts and
heritage is necessary and sustainable;
17. Archives are a capital and resource
intense activity—the need for specialist and expensive buildings
and plant, conservation and storage, display and transportation
of items and the fact that almost all of the activities the sector
undertakes depend on the primary resource (the archival items)
that we preserve. The investment of public funds in archives is
essential for the sustainability of our nation's collections,
maintain a true record of official decisions, safeguard and make
records accessible to citizens in order to promote democratic
participation. The return on this investment is not just the preservation
of our archival history, but also the invaluable support that
archives give to so many other cultural and heritage activities,
not simply for the artistic elite, but for every community across
the country.
Whether the current system, and structure, of
funding distribution is the right one
What impact recent changes to the distribution
of National Lottery funds will have on arts and heritage organisations
18. Whilst HLF has provided some much needed
funding for the archives sector (some £175 million to 601
projects over the past 16 years of HLF funding history), the ability
of the sector to bid for funds has been hampered by qualification
criteria, for example the lack of funding available to continue
the important work of cataloguing our nation's archival collections,
a vital piece of work if public access and online engagement is
to be extended. There are some examples of where even when archival
projects were able to build up joint funding between local authorities
and higher education institutions, HLF failed to provide funds
despite criteria being met and positive reviews provided by HLF
assessors. There is a perception of a low priority given to archives
from HLF, in favour of visual arts and other cultural and arts
activities.
19. Other funding structures have also discriminated
against archives. For example, the MLA's Renaissance funding stream
was only intended for regional museums and archive services were
excluded from the criteria. This form of "funding stream"
means that even when a sector like archives can contribute to
the aims and objectives of a funding body, the rules are exclusive
and end up favouring one cultural activity over another. Such
exclusivity should end and all sectors should be able to bid for
funds based on whether they can help the funding body to reach
wider aims and goals. Any proposals which give place public funds
in the hands of one or two very large bodies to divide amongst
smaller cultural sectors should take into account the mistakes
of past funding structures.
Whether the policy guidelines for National Lottery
funding need to be reviewed;
20. We should make a strong case that the
funds should be invested in activities with long term and lasting
benefits, not ephemeral activities which have short term impact
on a small number of people, for examples through investing in
cataloguing and conservation, improvements in buildings and plant,
rather than in conferences, the drafting of toolkits or one-off
events. HLF should also be encouraged and empowered to fund repeat
projects once a concept has been proved a success. For example,
West Yorkshire Archive Service's Tithe Map digitisation project
was a roaring success and based on a successful concept initiated
by Cheshire County Archives, which received HLF money. However,
HLF funding was not available for the whole West Yorkshire area
and so about a fifth of the maps have been completed, with local
people disappointed that there is no chance of funding to do complete
the work. Another example of HLF criteria needing change is its
priority for historic buildings. Whilst archival projects are
more likely to receive funds for projects which include the conservative
of historic buildings, these structures often provide the least
suitable accommodation for archival materials, are the most expensive
to convert and least efficient to maintain.
Whether businesses and philanthropists can play
a long-term role in funding arts at a national and local level
21. Archive services are well placed to
work with businesses to promote the value of archives and records.
The Business Archives Strategy is being developed and implemented
by the Archives & Records Association in partnership with
The National; Archives, MLA and others. The Strategy places importance
on the role of businesses in preserving and promoting their own
archival holdings and how such materials can be used in core business
activities, including marketing, product development and corporate
social responsibility initiatives. The Strategy was launched in
the Summer of 2008 at the House of Lords by the APG Archives,
with the Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Stuart Rose and
Dame Stella Rimington giving their endorsements to the project
by speaking at the event. The opportunities for businesses to
help bring more attention to the benefit of investing in good
quality archive services are clear, but more work could possibly
be done to enable commercial and philanthropic support for the
wider archival community. Opportunities could include the potential
of more sponsorship arrangements for businesses to support local
exhibitions, family and local history projects.
Whether there need to be more Government incentives
to encourage private donations.
22. The Goodison Report proposed that businesses
should be able to offset the costs of maintaining their historical
collections including records against tax, but thus far the Treasury
has resisted the idea. In the view of the Archives & Records
Association, this proposal is a good idea and would have the effect
of either encouraging businesses to look after their records properly
themselves, or make them more willing to fund the local authority
or a higher education archive to look after their records.
September 2010
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